The new sixth year
by broomstick flyer
Summary: Re posted as requested, after some small editing. Annoyed at Hermione Harry makes some discoveries about Hogwarts that had been hiden since the time of the founders. His new knowledge helps him to carry out his destiny.
1. Chapter 1

Irritable The New sixth year.

Chapter one.

Harry Potter was annoyed, really annoyed, and the reason for his annoyance was his supposed best friend Hermione Jane Granger. They had left the last lesson of the day after spending two hours in the potions class that ended an hour earlier, once again professor Slughorn had given Harry a good grade for his potion placing him at the top of the class, and he was feeling quite pleased with himself. With the help of the text book that had once belonged to the 'half blood prince' he had been able to make an almost perfect nerve restorative potion.

Hermione however had once again made a snide comment, something about Harry being too stupid to make a decent potion without help. After listening to her for some months going on about his use of the text book of the half blood prince something inside Harry had exploded into a fierce anger at her words and rather than go to the common room with everyone else he decided he needed to take a walk to cool down.

The last thing he wanted to do was to loose his temper with her in front of all his house mates, his walk had taken him around the now deserted corridors of the castle where he had gradually become more and more interested with the magical portraits. Wondering what it was like to be stuck in a portrait for years he had struck up a conversation with the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. It was not long before he had poured out his life story concluding with the tale of the best friend who seemed to have become anything but a friend.

Rowena's advice about sorting out the problem with Hermione instead of letting it get worse seemed to him to be sound advice. "What you need to do Harry is to sort it out with her, ask her about why she has changed, decide between you if the friendship is at an end. If it is then you can both take your different paths and there should no longer be any need for the antagonism."

Harry entered the common room and looked around glaring at his house mates leaving them under no doubt he wanted them to leave the room and give him some privacy. As everyone, including the seventh years, began to find excuses to leave he approached Hermione where as usual she sat curled up in a corner of a couch reading.

Looking around and finding the room now deserted except for himself and Hermione, he stood directly in front of her, his arms folded across his chest. Still annoyed with his anger barely in check he took a deep breath, he knew this was going to be difficult, he knew he was lacking when it came to interacting with other people. His upbringing and the isolation from normal life forced on him by Dumbledore keeping him imprisoned had seen to that, but the girl in front of him had been his friend for five years and she knew him well enough to realise his shortcomings in socialising.

"So what the hell is going on?" he asked in a cold voice.

Hermione looked up from her book with a start, "Oh… Harry you made me jump."

Forcing his face to remain expressionless he repeated his question "You did not answer the question, what's going on?"

Hermione looked at him, an expression of puzzlement on her face but in her eyes he could see she knew what he was asking, "What are you talking about Harry?" she asked quietly.

"I want to know what's going on. Is our friendship at an end and if so why? What did I do to make you dislike me so much, do you hate me and if so why?" he asked with a total lack of feeling in his expression and his voice.

There was a look of surprise and maybe a little hurt in her eyes as she looked at him, her mouth opened and closed several times but no words came out, as she just sat there and looked at him.

Harry nodded his head a little at her silence, "I see… well if that's the way it is we should stay as far away from each other as we can manage for a week or two while you make up your mind if the friendship is finished, if you cant make up your mind then I will. Two weeks Miss Granger and that's all, that way I won't have to listen to your snide and nasty remarks more than I have too, will I… and to think, I thought we would always be together, that I would always have you be here by my side, what a laugh that is, as you seem intent on proving me wrong."

Harry turned and leaving Hermione staring after him, he walked out of the common room to go back and continue his conversation with Rowena. He explained to her how he had still been annoyed and had decided he had to give her a choice, if she had not made her mind up in the two weeks he would bring the friendship to an end so he could hopefully put some distance between himself and the girl he had fallen for over two years before, and to do it before his feelings got too deep. '_If they weren't already too deep_' a small voice in his head whispered.

Rowena was interested in what Hermione had said and was surprised when he told her word for word what had been said and what had happened. From what she had learned about Hermione Granger from other portraits she had expected far more from the girl. Harry spent the entire evening talking to Rowena's portrait and when he eventually returned to the common room to go to bed, he did so with knowledge about the castle that had been hidden from everyone for a little over a millennium.

Walking back into the common room at fifteen minutes to midnight Harry found the place deserted apart from the one person he did not wish to see or talk to right then. Without a word he walked past her and made his way to the stairs of the boys' dormitories, he had his foot on the first step when she called him.

"Harry… can we talk?" she asked.

Harry stopped and without turning around and keeping his back to her so he would not have to look into those amazing brown eyes, he said "Sorry miss Granger but only my friends are allowed to call me Harry, I would be happy if you would remember that. I'm really tired right now and I'm going to bed, maybe tomorrow." He then continued up the stairs and went to bed.

Before he fell asleep his thoughts drifted to how things used to be, this time a year ago he had had two friends who he had thought of as his family. If he had found out the new things about the castle then, he would have been eager to share the news with them as soon as he could, this year however his two best friendships were at an end. Ron, who Harry had thought of as a brother, was too busy with Lavender Brown to bother speaking to him, and he had no idea what had happened with Hermione who had acted almost like a wife to him for five years, but was now acting like Pansy Parkinson.

He wasn't completely blind to how Hermione had been showing a romantic interest in Ron and as he lay there he admitted to himself he was jealous of Ron and if she ever asked him to be her boyfriend he would forgive her anything in an instant just to be able to kiss her.

Hermione had never been so lonely and miserable since she first started at Hogwarts; she had no real friends amongst the other girls, having always been part of a trio with Harry and Ron. Ron dating Lavender had really annoyed her and made her jealous, she saw Lavender as stealing her best friend and it was obvious Ron preferred her company and all the snogging to being with Hermione or Harry.

But it was Harry, who since he had practically ended their friendship kept vanishing each evening, and nobody knowing where he went that began to hurt the most, he no longer spoke to her even when they did see each other. Their long friendship was over and it was her who had drove Harry into ending it. He had given her the chance to put things right, but she had been stupidly stubborn, refusing to believe she was in the wrong. Each day that passed she missed him looking to her for advice and help, she missed their little talks, but mostly she simply missed being with him and being able to hug him or hold his hand occasionally.

It took a full month of this loneliness for her to realise she had been taking all her anger about losing a best friend to Lavender, out on her other best friend, and that had resulted in destroying the one friendship she finally knew she could not live without. She realised she could be happy without Ron around, but without Harry her life was empty and had no meaning. She had to admit to herself she was in love with him and knew she had made a really bad mistake and if she did nothing about it she would regret it for the rest of her life.

Early on the Sunday morning one month after Harry ended their long friendship, while Harry was at breakfast Hermione decided to try to follow Harry, maybe find out where he went, find out if he was seeing a girl. Find out if she had any chance of regaining his friendship. Taking the risk of things getting even worse with him, she snuck up to Harry's dorm and borrowed his invisibility cloak.

She was just in time reaching the entrance hall. Hidden under the cloak she watched as Harry left the great hall after having had his breakfast. He looked around as though checking he was alone before he made his way up the stairs, on the deserted third floor he walked down the corridor where they had once found a huge three headed dog. Reaching the end of the corridor Harry stopped to speak to a portrait, after a quick conversation the portrait frame slid along the wall revealing an ornate oak door hidden in a recess. Harry opened the door and stepped inside and out of sight.

Rushing forward Hermione managed to enter the doorway just before it closed and she found herself in an entirely new world. It was like she had stepped back over a thousand years, there were no portraits or paintings on the walls; instead each wall was covered in various tapestries swords shields and other weapons, what furniture there was, was the oldest style she had ever seen. Harry was hurrying toward a flight of stairs and Hermione almost lost track of him as she looked around in surprise at where she had found herself. She was in another Hogwarts, one that was far different to the one she knew and loved.

Two more flights of stairs saw Harry walk along a corridor and then open the fourth door along. By the time she reached the door it had closed, she waited for a minute to gather her courage before she removed the cloak and placed it in an inside pocket of her robes. Taking a deep breath and praying that Harry was not with a girl she reached out and opened the door.

Entering through the doorway Hermione found herself in a room where Harry was sitting with four people who she recognised from their descriptions in Hogwarts a history. Four people who most definitely should not be in the world at the same time as Harry and her. Four people who Harry was quite happily talking to as though he knew them well, and yet he should in no way be able too know them at all.

Harry saw the surprised look that came on the face of the slightly overweight woman sitting in front of him as she looked over his shoulder, turning in his chair to see what had caused the reaction he found himself looking into the brown and amber eyes he knew so well.

"Bloody hell! Granger what the heck are you doing here, did you follow me?" he almost whispered.

The woman to Harry's left cleared her throat a little and said "I suppose you should introduce us to Miss Granger, Harry."

Harry looked at his companions and nodded "I suppose I have no choice. Rowena, Godric, Helga, Salazar, this is a former friend of mine, Miss Hermione Jane Granger. Hermione Jane Granger I would like you to meet the legendary founders' of Hogwarts."

The disappointment in Hermione's face when he introduced her as a former friend was obvious to them all except Harry who was looking at the floor while he spoke.

"Before we proceed further I think that our two young ones should talk, and sort their problem. Come my friends let us retire to take beverage and leave them to sort their quarrel," Godric said as he rose from his seat.

By the time Harry looked up, his four new friends were leaving the room through a doorway behind them. The last thing he wanted was to open up the wounds from earlier in the term, he was only just beginning to come to terms with not spending all his time in the company of the girl who was stood just a few feet away from him.

"Harry, I'm so sorry I hurt you," Hermione said before he started to say something that would hurt her again, from deep inside herself she felt this might well be her last ever chance to put things right with him.

Harry's head snapped up from its slightly bowed position "I'd rather know why, than to hear how you're sorry. Why are you being so hateful, what did I do that deserved that sort of treatment from someone I loved?"

"Harry I wasn't thinking right I was… hang on, what do you mean 'you loved'?" Hermione asked in surprise as his words registered in her mind.

"Well I thought it was bloody obvious to everyone that I loved you. I thought you might have some similar feelings for me, but I now know that was wrong. For five years you got on at me to do better, study harder, get better grades, then as soon as I found something to help me do that, were you happy? 'No' instead you turn nasty and hateful even after I offered to share that little bit of luck with you." Was his rather loud reply.

"Are you saying you were in love with me?" came Hermione's astonished question.

"Funny all this time I thought you were the most intelligent person I ever knew, seems I was wrong about that too, yes I'm in lov… was in love with you, how could I not be?" Harry said exasperated with everything that was happening.

Hermione's mind was spinning, Harry had been in love with her and if his slip was anything to go by he was still in love with her, she found that thought exhilarating and it excited parts of her that had never been awakened before. It was then she told herself it would be so easy for her to fall in love with him completely, the quiet little voice in her head whispered '_you really are a fool, you've been in love with him for years. Why the heck do you think you always worried so much about him? Your blindness to your own feelings, your refusal to listen to me and your disgusting selfish behaviour this year could well have been the biggest disaster in your life tell him how you feel woman' _

"Harry… er, please, will you forgive me for how I behaved, can we put the past year and the completely idiotic and stupid way I have been behaving behind us, can you please please forgive me, let me try to put things right because I… well I… I mean… Oh bugger it. I love you… I'm in love with you… there I said it, I've admitted it out loud, I love you and my stupid fear of being hurt again and the prophecy and anger over losing Ron as a best friend made me deny that, even to my self and I behaved like a complete fool… bloody hell Harry, I can't live without you in my life, god I even want your babies," she said her pleading eyes never leaving his even while she wondered where the part about babies came from.

Harry did not move for a long moment, he just stood there looking at her, then he lifted his hand and beckoned for her to come closer to him. As she reached the point just out of his reach he held out his open arms to her. Hermione launched herself at him almost knocking him off balance.

Harry spoke jokingly with a huge grin on his face as they hugged tightly "Why the hell I still love you I don't know, but then I never could resist you. If that was your way of asking me to marry you, I cant see any reason not too, the babies though will have to wait just a little while, but having said that I recon it would be great to put in some practice while waiting, and the sooner the better as far as I am concerned." He ended with a loud chuckle.

Hermione was shocked and it showed on her face. What Harry did not know was it was her own reaction to his playful words that had shocked her, her first thought had been '_Oh god sex with him, 'yes'!'_ her next thought had been '_how soon can we do it'_ followed by '_I'd even be happy to let him give me a baby right here right now'_. Taking a breath she whispered in his ear "Any time you want to practice you'll find me ready… And now that you mention it I think we should get married during the next holiday we have, I mean we've already done the going out together bit." She added with a chuckle of her own.

Harry stared at her his eyes stretched open wide as he realised what she was saying, he was about to reply when the door behind them opened and a grinning Godric walked back into the room, seeing them hugging he smiled "Is everything sorted?" he asked as he made his way to his seat.

Harry watched the founders as they re-entered the room, as he watched he was thinking how easy it had been for him to forgive and accept Hermione back into his life, the thought of the last thing she had said seemed to echo in his head bringing thoughts that he had never had before. The thoughts were then tempered a little as he realised the only thing he knew about the female anatomy, and how babies were made came from his dorm mates, and what little he had managed to see on the Dursley's TV on the odd occasion he had managed to watch it a little. He hardly had any idea at all about giving the girl pleasure while making a baby, and no idea at all about looking after a baby let alone being a father and bringing one up, but having his own family was his deepest desire so he needed to find out.

The thought that the only person he could ask was the girl involved did not cheer him at all, asking Hermione what to do would be far to embarrassing for him. Then Salazar Slytherin placed his hand on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.

"You alright Harry son?" he asked as he took his seat.

Harry then had one of the few epiphanies he had while at Hogwarts, he could learn all he needed to know easily, he just needed the courage to ask his new mentors for some advice, all he needed was a little time and a quiet word. He felt sure they would be willing to talk to him about sex and what he would need to do to make Hermione happy. Momentarily he felt a twinge of sorrow when he thought he really had no one else to give him the talk his room mates had seemed to find highly embarrassing, he wouldn't mind being embarrassed if he had his father here to give him the talk.

His mind was brought back to what was happening as Rowena was explaining to Hermione that the doorway they had entered was a portal to the past. They could go back to any time in which the castle had existed and if they were careful they could come and go between the future and the past with little problem.

Harry interrupted Rowena by raising his hand as though in class, "Er… Hermione, I accept, I mean yes, during the next holiday break I will marry you."

...


	2. Chapter 2

The New Sixth Year.

Chapter two

Hermione almost fainted, she had not actually expected an answer to her joke, so to receive a yes from Harry made her speechless; she sat staring at him her mind in turmoil. She couldn't believe she had followed Harry hoping for a chance to apologise and ended up practically engaged to be married to him. The idea someone like Harry was in love with her was a shock. That he wanted to marry her was almost too much for her to accept.

Recovering from the shock and thinking up her reply she spoke to him with a huge grin on her face, "Harry considering we have been together for five years already, I want a baby as soon as you can make me pregnant. I want all my babies early so we can enjoy our lives together with them and still be young enough to enjoy each other when they are grown up, I think maybe five or six to start with don't you," she told him while wearing what had turned into a huge grin, and wondering what he would come back with.

Harry simply stood there in shock, she had called his bluff and he could not think of a quick quip to say in return.

The congratulations that erupted from the four people with them were noisy, happy, and warm and gave him a chance to think. Rowena even told them how they could get married in the old way and how to seal the marriage with their magic, and how to make it legal in both the magical and muggle worlds.

As they settled down Godric declared that if they were to be married then Hermione needed to learn the proper way to use her magic first. Rowena agreed quite verbally while Helga and Salazar simply nodded their agreement.

Hermione who at first was a little annoyed being told she was not using her magic properly, discovered during her first meeting with them that the four founders were not exactly as they were described in her favourite book, 'Hogwarts a History', they were far from the strict serious teachers she expected.

All four of them who were not yet middle aged had a well developed sense of humour and were not averse to playing pranks and tricks on the witches and wizards they were helping. They did not think of themselves as teachers but as simple magical people who offered their assistance to any young witch or wizard who were brought to their attention. It seemed the entire story of Hogwarts being built and opened as a school was wrong. It was actually a sanctuary for magical young ones.

Godric as a young man had been drafted into building the castle with his father who had died before it was completed, the entire Gryffindor estate should have gone to Godrics elder brother but the brother had turned it down so he could go off to the holy land to become a monk.

Amongst the four lifelong friends Hogwarts castle had been the biggest home any of them owned and so they had brought the one's they were helping to live with them in the castle where they were safe. There were no houses or tiers of authority, everyone chose what they wanted to do and asked who they wanted if they could help them with certain problems or needs. Thus the teaching could be called haphazard and mixed at best.

There was no actual system, and according to Harry it would be almost seventy years in the future before things would begin to change. If there were any to be considered teachers it would be everyone living in the castle. Once someone learned something new, they were happy to show others who might wish to know. Salazar chuckled when Hermione asked how anyone ever learned everything.

"No one can learn everything, take yesterday for instance. A few days prior Rowena was told about a young witch who lived in a village three days ride away, so she went to invite the witch here for a visit. They arrived at the castle three days since, but yesterday I was talking to the young girl, she's just past her twelfth birthday, anyway as I said I was talking to her and we got talking about the discomfort she had felt during the travelling to the castle on horseback and she asked me if it would not be far easier and quicker to fly.

I of course thought the idea brilliant and admitted so. Eleanora, that's her name, had me accompany her to the rear court gardens and showed me a method she had come up with to fly. She placed a few of her own charms on a large broken tree branch and with very little effort she flew around the garden. Tomorrow she will teach me how she did the charms, and what magics of her core she used. What she was thinking and feeling as she placed the charms. As I said she is but in her twelfth year and on the morrow she will be the teacher as she teaches me how to fly."

Hermione was amazed that the founders had been taught by children as well as adults until Rowena pointed out that most witches and wizards started doing their magic from their very early childhood and needed no outside knowledge to use their magic for their needs. Like all blessings it came naturally. Those who could write wrote down their magics and their thoughts at the time, they did so in order that they not forget. Others might ask that they write down their thoughts and feelings, what they said or did to make something happen.

Helga joined in the conversation when she asked if Hermione had ever summoned anything as a child, when Hermione admitted she had often used accidental magic in summoning books she could not reach. Helga then asked how much harder had it been to learn how to do it using someone else's thoughts, or as they were now called spells and a wand.

Hermione admitted it had not exactly been easy and in fact there were some spells that were harder to perform or remember than others. Helga gave a chuckle. "You see child there is no such thing as accidental magic, how can it be an accident. You wanted it to happen and it happened, your magic just did what you were asking of it, it may have been slightly out of your control and unexpected because of need or anger, maybe even fear, but then that just needs us to use a little extra thought to calm any anger or fear."

This gave Hermione quite a lot to think about, and as she fell into her quiet thinking mode Harry turned toward her, and without a wand or a word Hermione found herself dressed in a very pretty periwinkle dress and wearing a diamond tiara, her no longer bushy hair hung down her back in long luxurious waves.

Surprised she asked Harry what spell he had used on her hair. Harry simply smiled at her. "No spell, it's what I wanted, it's simply what I told my magic to do," he answered quietly.

"So you did that with no spell or charm, you didn't have to think of one or concentrate or anything?" she asked eager to hear how it was done. She had after all spent the past five years trying to find a spell to use on her hair.

Harry looked at her with a large smile, "Try it your self," he announced as she reverted to how she had been just a few minutes earlier "Just don't try casting a spell, or thinking of a charm. Simply feel for the magic within and let your magic do it for you."

Hermione tried but was getting frustrated when she kept thinking of spells she had read of or been taught, she was finding it made her angry because Harry sat next to her and seemed to simply produce anything he wanted without any effort. When he held out his hand and a Firebolt broom appeared she lost her temper a little and the broom turned orange in colour, as she looked at Harry and not the broom he too turned orange, Harry was a little annoyed for a moment at first but then he began to giggle, which soon develop into a tear creating belly laugh, he was soon joined by Godric and the others.

Hermione sat and glared at them for a few seconds before she saw what they were laughing at. She soon found herself laughing at the orange Harry sitting next to her, "I did it didn't I, I really did it and I wasn't even thinking, she said excitedly.

"Now Hermione try to remember how you felt, find where the magic came from, search inside your self, find the path, search for the centre, take command and direct it, guide it, control it," Godric urged before she lost the internal trace of where the magic to change Harry's colour came from.

It took a while but eventually Hermione began to feel what they were trying to tell her about, she felt a tremendous surge of power when she finally found her centre, she felt a sort of freedom within herself she had never felt before. It was a feeling she wanted to retain and nurture, help it to grow, so she told the founders how she was feeling.

Godric and Rowena took her to one side, while Helga and Salazar talked to Harry. During her talk with Rowena, Hermione realised that the normal methods of teaching at Hogwarts and other magical schools were actually detrimental to young magicals developing their full potential. That in turn gave her the idea of opening their own school to teach this original method to Muggle born's of primary school age.

Harry tapped her on the shoulder after she had been talking for some time, "Hermione we have to leave now, I have an appointment I really don't want to miss. It's important to me and could mean big changes in my life."

Together the two teenagers said their goodbyes to the founders and left them with a promise to return at the same time in three days time if they could make it. Hand in hand Harry led Hermione out of the castle and back to their own time. As soon as they stepped out of the door way Harry had them turn around and after placing his hand on the door handle he said "May thirtieth nineteen seventy eight."

Harry then turned the handle and opened the door. Once they were in the castle of 1978 Harry led the way up to the room of requirement. As soon as they arrived Hermione noticed that there was already a door there. Harry knocked and then opened the door and entered a good facsimile of Gryffindor common room.

Sitting on a couch in front of a large fire waiting was yet another person that Hermione knew from the description she had. Lily Potter stood from the couch and rushed to pull Harry into a hug.

"Hi mum, I bought someone to meet you, we have one or two things to sort out yet, and hopefully we will be able to quite quickly, so mum if everything works out this is my future wife Hermione," he then whispered in an exaggerated way when he said "She proposed to me and I didn't dare refuse," he then spoke normally again when he said "Truth is if she had not asked me when she did, I would have asked her."

For reasons she did not bother trying to understand Hermione was beaming when Lily gave her a hug. As they both were right then, Lily was just a few months older than herself yet she easily accepted her as Harry's mother and her future mother in law. She had multiple questions she wanted to ask but could not decide where to begin. Accepting the invite she took a seat on the couch beside Harry, thus wedging him between herself and his mother.

"I'm sorry mum I haven't been able to find a way to tell you the thing I tried to tell you last time we met, Godric says it is probably the fates or destiny that is stopping me passing on that knowledge to you and dad, did you find anything to help… where is dad? Is he off pulling pranks on the Slytherin's?" Harry said while looking really sad.

Hermione was a little surprised that Harry had not done something to save his parents lives until she heard him apologise so sincerely, she tried her self to tell Lily what would happen but she could not, she knew then that he had been unable to give them a warning about what was to happen in the future. She realised that if his parents had been destined to die in the castle they may have been able to help them somehow, but as it was going to happen many miles away, they would be able to do nothing. It seemed that destiny or the future of Lily and James was made in stone and nothing in the universe was able to change it.

Every thing then fell into place. Harry was unable to do anything because if he did warn them he would never have gone through all he had; he would have become a different person. A person who had never had the argument with her, he would never have gone off that night and found the time portal and he also would not need to warn them. It was one of the many paradoxes associated with time travel.

Sad though it was knowing what their futures held, both Harry and Hermione enjoyed getting to know Lily as a real person and not just someone from stories. They talked late into the night about all kinds of things, they even showed Lily the old way of using magic. Hermione was truly happy that Harry was able to really get to know his mother and father, and she was a little surprised at how strong he was being knowing what they both knew. It was almost two in the morning when they walked into the Gryffindor common room, shared their first real kiss as they kissed goodnight and then made their way happily to their beds.

The following morning the Gryffindor common room was full of really surprised people. They were surprised because they had just witnessed Harry Potter and Hermione Granger leave through the portrait hole hand in hand. It was not something they had ever expected to see after the past few months and the last month in particular. It had seemed the friendship of Harry and Hermione had broken down beyond saving, but now it was obvious something had happened to bring them even closer together.

Harry led Hermione to the room of requirements and opened the door to find an extremely comfortable study. Taking a seat in one of the two deep soft leather armchairs Harry looked across to Hermione. "So, Hermione, I know we were being flippant and jesting when we spoke about getting married last night, but I need to know. What you said yesterday, was it true, do you really love me and want to marry me? And what about Ron?" he asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Yes Harry, what I said yesterday still stands, I want to marry you, I want to be the mother of your children. In fact I thought about it for quite some time in bed last night… I made a huge mistake with how I behaved these past weeks; you have no idea how glad I am that Ron never acted on his supposed crush on me because when we get down to the honest truth, I find I don't even like him, its why we always fight.

Until last night when I really thought about things and was being truly honest with myself I didn't even know I really wanted a baby. And then I thought about when we were joking about getting married and I realised it was what I actually want. I want to be married to you and like I said, I want our first baby as soon as possible, I want there to be more than just one reason for you to beat Voldemort and survive. The sooner we get married the sooner I can become a mother, I spoke to Poppy this morning as I was a little worried after getting wounded, and she says I am fertile and now healthy enough to carry a baby without problems, we can have a family like the Weasleys if that's what you want, though I would rather have just the one for now, and maybe two or three more later on after the war is over." She answered with utmost certainty.

Harry had a huge grin on his face as he looked at her. "Good so it's decided we're getting married. Because of that I've decided to use a few more of the castle's secrets. As we discovered from the founders, we don't need all these useless lessons, all we need to do is to believe in the power of our magic and what we are capable of. The Christmas break starts in two weeks and I know I can arrange for us to get married in the old way then. I am assuming you will want your parents there with you, I thought of asking Ron to be best man, but then I thought that Neville has been the far better friend for the past couple of years so I intend to ask him.

Now for my bomb shell, please don't get upset with me, I intend to finish taking classes after today. I have already written a letter to Dumbledore informing him I will not be attending any further classes, I have finished with school and there is no way I am going to let him interfere with my plans anymore. He has done more than enough damage in my life, his stupidity in keeping me a prisoner at privet drive instead of really helping me makes me think he has some ulterior motive for keeping me in the dark. I am positive that he has still not told me every thing I need to know, he probably never will. I know it sounds wild but I think he wants me to die when and if I face Voldemort."

"Harry love where will we go if we leave the castle after lessons tonight?" Hermione asked worry evident in her voice.

"Well love we don't have to actually leave the castle, there are at least four complete ready furnished and prepared suite's available to us in the castle Keep, the Keep that no one can see until they have found the entrance. I think that maybe we should have your folks stay there too. It's not going to be safe for them out in the muggle world any more; they need protection from the death eaters." Harry told her as she listened carefully to every word.

Hermione nodded "I agree Harry; I think I should write Dumbledore my farewell letter as well, because where ever you go, I'm going to be there right beside you."

"Ok so that's all sorted, now how would you like to see our new accommodation?" he asked with a warm smile.

"I'd love to sweetheart," she answered while batting her eye lashes comically, "as long as there is a bed there."

Harry stood up and taking her hand he pulled her toward one of the walls of the room. "The sanctuary of Hogwarts," he said as they stood facing the wall. Moments later a new corridor appeared in front of them. Harry still holding Hermione's hand led the way into a square tower Hermione had never seen before. "Welcome to Hogwarts sanctuary, formally known as the 'Keep'," he said grinning.

Of the four suite's Harry mentioned Hermione chose the top floor Royal apartments suite as the one they were going to live in, as they settled onto a really comfortable couch and began discussing wedding plans, Harry admitted to Hermione he had no real knowledge of how sex was performed "I have a vague idea from a few sources but I truly don't have a clue if what I heard is right, I'm telling you this because I don't know how to please a woman, and just in case I'm that bad at it I fail to give you the baby we both want, because like you, I want a family of my own as soon as possible. Oh and I am still in love with you."

Hermione stood and with a shy smile on her face she pulled him up from the couch with her, holding his hand she led him to the master bedroom. "As we are going to get married in a couple of weeks I don't think there would be any harm in starting to try for a baby as from today. I've never done this before but I am well informed, both from my mum and from the books I've read, so Mister Potter get those clothes off and let's start practising."

Five minutes later Hermione was sitting up on the bed completely naked, with her face flushed a bright red colour and feeling really embarrassed, she was explaining to Harry what he needed to know, and what she wanted him to do to make her pregnant.

After good a snogging session Harry and Hermione made their first practice attempt at creating a baby, having really enjoyed being joined together physically and mentally so much. Despite the pain Hermione had felt, they happily practiced repeatedly for most of the night.

They also practised in the shower the following morning. Both of them agreed they had never known anything better, although Hermione admitted knowing that this might be the time she conceived, helped increase her pleasure ten fold when she orgasmed. Which with Harry's help and her instructions, she did quite a few times that night.

...


	3. Chapter 3

The New Sixth Year.

Chapter three

Albus Dumbledore their headmaster was furious when Harry Potter and Hermione Granger simply disappeared on the day he received their letters informing him of their intentions. He had planned on changing their minds about ending their education at the castle as they tried to leave. He was fully prepared to use any method needed to obtain his goal including magic to keep them at Hogwarts, but they had simply vanished. There was no record of them having left the castle; Dumbledore had checked the ward records several times to make sure. He also knew they were not in the chamber of secrets because the locking charms and other spells he had placed on Myrtles toilet some time back were all still intact, yet there was no trace of them being in the castle when he checked with the portraits, ghosts, and wards. He even tried the room of requirements with no luck.

Dumbledore was not the only one the couple's disappearance annoyed. Ron Weasley was also in a bad mood and repeatedly snapped angrily when anyone mentioned Harry or Hermione. He had been thoroughly enjoying watching Hermione make a fool of her self with her jealousy, he had especially enjoyed it every time she said something nasty about Harry. Now that they had gone off somewhere together, he was the one being jealous. He was once again back to hating Harry bloody Potter, because Harry, bloody, rich, and famous, Potter, had once again got something that should rightfully belong to Ronald Bilius Weasley.

Lavender Brown was not too happy with her jealous prat of a boyfriend, because the idiot was jealous over the wrong girl. '_Was she so wrong in wanting it to be her he was jealous over, if there was ever any reason for jealousy_' she asked herself more than once. She finally reached the limit of what she would stand for from the dumb red head, when he had stopped kissing her to comment to Dean Thomas on how hot and sexy Granger had become over the past couple of years. The slap Lavender gave him was heard through out Gryffindor tower, she then told him they were through, her rant at him lasted long enough for the bruise on his cheek to begin to develop, and from the size of it, it was obviously going to last quite some time.

Ginny Weasley was another one who was not too pleased with the developments of the past few days. She had been so sure she had finally gotten Harry to notice her, but now they had gone off together, Harry and Hermione, the girl Ginny had always known would or should end up with The-Boy-Who-Lived. It was a sad day for Ginny when she wrote home to tell her mother that they had left the school together.

Molly Weasley was like a raving lunatic when she walked into Dumbledore's office at Grimmauld Place. She ranted on and on about her plans for one big happy family that now lay in tatters unless they could find a way to get Potter and Granger back into Hogwarts and separate them, she even mentioned the use of potions to get her one big happy family, which to Dumbledore seemed like a rather good idea, if only they knew where the couple were.

Hermione found the magic of the door to the Keep to be quite fascinating; the door they first used was one of three entrance/exits available from the one entry/exit door of the Keep. One exit took them into the room of requirements, one to Slytherin's former home just north of Tintagel castle, and one to Ravenclaw house, which was now Gringotts bank. She and Harry were just about to leave the Keep in order to collect her parents and for their safety move them into one of the Keeps remaining three suites, when she decided she would sometime soon, like to study the magic used on the door way. Everything had been arranged at Gringotts and both of the Granger parents should be waiting with a goblin on the main floor of the bank.

Hermione took hold of the door handle and thought '_Ravenclaw house'_ and then she opened the door. Hand in hand Harry and Hermione stepped through the doorway and straight into the bank. Harry went to collect some gold from his vault while Hermione walked over and greeted her mum and dad.

After sharing hugs Helen and Richard Granger were quietly talking to their daughter when they were approached by five people neither of the parents knew, Helen was shocked when they demanded that Hermione accompany them to some place called headquarters. Richard was not so much shocked, as he was more annoyed that because these people could do magic they seemed to think they could simply walk away with his only child while he stood there and watched. He decided he was going to show them just how inefficient their magic was when he was around and feeling annoyed.

Hermione stepped back from what she knew were members of Dumbledore's order of the phoenix, and refused to go with them. "I can't believe you lot are stupid enough to try and kidnap me in front of my parents in the middle of Gringotts. If just one of you pulls a wand out in here the Goblins will be all over you like beetles on dung. And you Remus, Tonks, what are you thinking betraying me and Harry like this?" Hermione said looking at them as though they were crazy.

Before any of them could do anything about it, the order of the phoenix members Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Mundungus Fletcher, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin found out in a most painful manner that they had made a huge mistake when they in their belief that they were doing what was right and thought that they were superior in power to the muggles in front of them tried to take Hermione with them.

Richard Granger black belt in both Tae-Kwon-do and Karate as well as other forms of the martial arts having heard that they could not use their wands in the bank smiled then stepped in to protect his daughter when Shacklebolt grabbed her by the elbow and tried to force her to go with them, he very quickly showed them what a Muggle could do when they were up close and personal.

He was given a little assistance when with no warning given Helen stepped into the fight and with a single right hook that Tonks never expected Helen floored the metamorph, putting her out of not only this fight but any others that might crop up in the near future. Tonks jaw was broken in two places. Severus Snape discovered what it was like to be on the receiving end of the well aimed foot of a protective mother, twice. Helen's second delivery was directed at Snape's nose which due to his hands being occupied holding an extremely delicate and excruciatingly painful part of his male anatomy was wide open to Helens rage.

Five extremely beaten and bruised members of the order of the phoenix were lying spread out across the floor groaning in pain when Harry rejoined Hermione, her quick explanation had Harry about as angry as he had ever been. Three of the downed magical folk he had given his trust too, two of them he had considered as truly good friends. He watched as the Goblin guard began to drag them toward the exit door, one of the Goblins he recognised.

"Er, Mr Griphook, might I have a word with your er… '_Clients_' before you dispose of them?" he asked politely.

Like all magical beings Griphook recognised Harry James Potter, the chosen one, "Of course Mr Potter be my guest." Came the Goblins grinning reply. Like all the other Goblins who had seen it, he had enjoyed watching these wizards get their butts kicked by a Muggle, even the werewolf had not been strong enough against the speed and power displayed by the Muggle.

Harry stepped forward and with just a thought his magic revived them as though they had just received an enervate spell at close range. As each one got to their feet they found themselves thrown backward into the wall and pinned there by some unknown force. Harry walked closer to them and when he came to a stop he looked at each one in turn.

Harry started with Remus Lupin, standing right in front of the paralysed wizard Harry gave a little wave of his hand. Remus's wand lifted from the holster it was kept in and floated between the two of them.

"This is what I think of traitors Lupin," Harry said as the floating wand snapped in two, the two parts then erupted into flames, there was nothing left to fall to the floor but grey ash when the flames died out. Harry did the same with Tonks wand before he moved on to the others and simply snapped their wands.

"If any of you or the rest of Dumbshits people ever touch my wife again, you will end up looking like Lupin's wand, you pass that message on to the rest of your cohorts, and you tell that fart of an old dark lord you work for I'll be coming for him and his minions when I've finished with Riddle. That old bastard has sixteen years of keeping me imprisoned and tortured to pay for and I am personally going to make sure he and everyone involved pays dearly for all I suffered," Harry turned to Griphook "Thanks Mr Griphook, I do believe I'm done here for now, except to say it is truly a great pleasure to work with you and the Goblin peoples."

Griphook grinned and acknowledged Harry Potters thanks, the little Goblin could not wait to throw the wizards out of the bank, and then rush to tell his boss that Harry Potter had just terrified five adult wizards with a display of his magic inside the bank, without breaking the banks laws on using wands. Mr Potter had done it all with just one tiny hand movement.

Shocked that members of Dumbledore's order had tried to take her against her will, Harry rejoined Hermione and stood watching as the members of Dumbledore's private little army were thrown from the building. Holding hands with the two older Grangers they made their way through their own private exit and out of the bank and back to the safety of the Keep.

Moments after arriving back at the Keep they were all surprised by the noise caused by the arrival of two house elves. Dobby and Winky had come to see 'the great Harry Potter sir', in search of a wizard who would bond with them. As free elves they had both failed to find magically bonded work and were in danger of losing their magic. Winky explained to Hermione that the elves magic came from the bond they had with their family, the stronger the bond the more powerful were the elves to look after their family.

Having heard Winky's story Hermione relented about how she felt about bonded elves and allowed the two elves to bond to the Potter family. Much to the delight of the two small beings, one of whom Harry thought a friend and he was quickly coming to like Winky in the same way. As soon as the elves had completed the bond Harry declared them to be Dobby and Winky Potter, the new brother and sister of Harry Potter. It was a tearful pair of elves who popped away to the kitchen of the Keep to prepare a meal for their family.

Helen and Richard Granger sat down on the couch, more or less forcing Harry and Hermione into sitting in the large arm chairs opposite. "Is there something you wish to tell us about 'Mrs' Potter?" Helen asked emphasising the word 'Mrs'

Hermione took a really long slow deep breath before she began to answer; she knew this was not going to be easy. She also had a very good idea what her parents' reaction was going to be. Still they needed to know; especially now they were going to be staying in the tower with them. Letting the breath out slowly she began…

"Well first thing is we are not married… yet! Harry was just giving them a scare, we will be getting married in a few days time once the holiday starts. Now what you should really know as you are going to be living here, is we… that is Harry and I… well we are trying for a baby and so we will be sleeping together. I know you won't like this but there is no way you can change our minds, we know what we are doing and we both want a child."

"I see I take it there is a reason for all this rush?" Helen asked with accompanying nods from Richard.

Hermione answered quite calmly considering how nervous she was feeling "Yes mum, there's an excellent reason. I realise we are young but I love Harry with everything I am, I think you already knew that even before I did. As you now know this bigoted magical world we live in is at war with Voldemort and his death eaters, they are the vilest kind of terrorists you could imagine. Well my Harry is the only one with the ability and power to end the war, and hopefully when he has succeeded I will be able to help him to change things in this world of ours for the better, those people who just tried to kidnap me are supposed to be our friends, but their idea of friendship is to keep Harry locked up in that awful house at privet drive or at Grimmauld place, the place they call headquarters, they would quite happily have used me to get Harry to do as they want.

However Harry winning his final battle with Voldemort is not a forgone conclusion. We both know Harry could fail and even die, still we really want our own family, children to love and nurture; I also want us to have a child as soon as we can, so that when that final fight takes place Harry will have more than just one thing to fight for. I also want that child so that if 'god forbid' Harry doesn't survive then the Potter family line will go on, and I will always have a little part of my Harry with me. I will still have the child I so want from the man I love."

Hermione received a shock from her parents when her father smiled a little, "Hermione dear, all your life you have been more mature than your years would suggest, and both your mother and I have come to trust your judgement where it concerns your life. You are seventeen now and old enough by law to get married if you want too, we are not going to start doubting you now after all these years. As for the child I do hope you realise that when you have your baby you will turn your mother and I into old people overnight." Richard turned and looked at his wife and with a simple look they agreed to support their daughter fully. "You have our blessings," Richard added as he reached to shake the hand of the young man who was to soon be his son-in-law, "welcome to the family Harry."

Helen had not spoken yet and Harry in utter surprise turned to look at her, she pulled him in to a hug "Take care of our little girl son," she uttered as she let him go so she could hug Hermione. Harry had expected broken bones, missing teeth or something along those lines when Hermione told them they were trying for a baby, instead he received their blessings, for a short time he had no idea what to do until Hermione whispered it was time for bed.

Harry had only had time to stand when his scar on his forehead erupted in pain; as usual he grabbed for his forehead and then collapsed to his knees. Voldemort was angry at something and Harry was suffering for it until Hermione wrapped him in a hug, her hug cleared his mind long enough for him to decide enough was enough. Using his magic as the four founders had taught him, he sought out the link in his mind that led to Voldemort. Using every bit of his magic while concentrating on his love for the woman with her arms around him he ripped the foundations to the link in his head apart, as the link began to collapse he mentally and magically gabbed the root of the pain and threw it and all the memories of the pain he had suffered throughout his life, at the other end of the link, where his magic found several other links all going off in different directions, by the time Harry's magic dissipated five minutes later Voldemort was in screaming agony. His links to all the items that kept him bound to this life were destroyed and he knew Harry Potter had been the one that had destroyed them.

At the same time that Hermione was talking to her parents, in Malfoy Manor Voldemort was angry. Wormtail had just informed him that Potter had disappeared, pulling his wand out he began to take that anger out on the rat featured man by hitting him with the Crucio spell. Death eaters in the room at Malfoy's home watched in horror as their lord and master suddenly grabbed at his head and screamed in agony. A strange black mist rose from the dark lord and dissipated within seconds. Voldemort fell to the ground and writhed around the floor screaming in agony calling repeatedly for Potter to forgive him, to spare him from the pain. The death eaters watched for a full ten minutes as Tom Marvolo Riddle screamed in pain, all the time begging for Potter to leave him alone. None of them understood what was happening but all of them became very afraid of Harry Potter when their dark lord finally fell into unconsciousness.

Four days into the holidays Harry had just returned from arranging their wedding, the earliest he could get it organised for was in three days time. They were going to use the old marriage ritual that the founders had told them about, and as they were residents of Scotland they were also going to hold the Muggle ritual the following year as they would both be old enough to not need parental consent. The guest list was rather short; Neville Longbottom was going to be Harry's best man, while Luna Lovegood was going to be Hermione's maid of honour. Griphook, Dobby and Winky were going to be their added magical witnesses each of them planning on wearing glamour charms for the later Muggle ceremony. Their official was Amelia Bones who had sworn to inform no one before the wedding took place.

The day before the wedding, Hermione, her mum Helen, and Luna who Hermione had practically kidnapped from a DA meeting in the room of requirements, were putting the final touches to their dresses. While she was standing in her bra and knickers waiting for Luna to finish a small magical alteration to her dress Hermione decided it was time to check if she was pregnant yet. Casting the spell took only a few seconds. Helen had just turned around and was able to catch Hermione, whose legs had simply buckled when a bright blue glow had spread over her lower abdomen and then divided into two and one of the glowing patches turned pink.

An hour later Hermione shyly informed Harry he was going to be a father of twins; Hermione was expecting a boy and a girl. Harry's legs did the same as Hermione's had done and gave way under him. He ended up sitting on the small rug in front of the fireplace repeating "I'm going to be a dad."

It was several minutes before Harry got over the shock. Grabbing both Hermione and Luna by the hand he pulled them behind him "Come on love, we just have to tell my mum and dad."

Luna, strange as she normally was, was looking even more strange than she normally did as she stared at Harry as if he was totally insane. Without pause Harry dragged the two young women along as they left the Keep and entered the room of requirements and then the main part of Hogwarts. It was by sheer luck that they reached the door on the third floor, opened the door to the year 1978, at lunchtime on June 3rd and then made their way to Gryffindor tower without seeing a single teacher, or any of the ghosts.

The eighteen years old Lily and James Potter felt rather odd that night going to bed knowing that they were going to be grand parents of twins; they had even made a date with their future son to meet the new Potters on Harry's birthday, July 31st.

Their getting married seemed to have produced a rather remarkable son, both Lily and James had agreed on that, but they had never in their wildest imaginings thought when they got married just a few week before that they would get to see their son, his wife and their first grand children before their first anniversary. As Lily said life could be really weird living in the magical world.

...


	4. Chapter 4

The New Sixth Year.

Chapter four.

It was over a week since Voldemort had collapsed in agony and he was still unconscious. Fear of Harry James Potter was growing in the ranks of the death eaters. Every one of them now knew that Potter was far more powerful than anyone had believed; he had after all held his own against twelve of their best fighters at the ministry and according to the latest reports he had single-handedly disarmed and burnt the wands of five members of the order of the phoenix who had tried to take his girlfriend Granger, and he had easily downed their lord from well over a hundred miles away. The death eaters felt that there were several real reasons to fear the bespectacled boy who actually looked so harmless.

When someone mentioned that they had heard about Potter getting married that day and Wormtail had asked for some volunteers to go and attack the wedding party, there was absolutely no one who stood up to go with him. Many were actually beginning to wonder if it might be safer leaving the country before Potter caught up with them and they suffered the same horrid fate as their master, whose reputation of being the greatest wizard alive amongst his own ranks, was falling apart fast.

Harry had no thoughts about Dumbledore, war, or Voldemort when he heard Hermione say 'I do', his entire world at that point consisted solely of the beautiful woman dressed in white standing in front of him and had just vowed to be his wife, and he knew it had been a vow that covered not only this life, but all of eternity as well. There could be no happier wizard alive that day, of that he was positive. Hermione was equally happy; she could not believe the vast changes that had happened in her life in the short time since she followed Harry through the time portal. When she said I do, she had never been more serious about anything in her entire life; she wanted nothing more than to spend her entire life with the man in front of her, the father of the twins growing inside her.

Back at Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore listened to his potions professor as the man told him that quite a number of the death eaters, including some of the inner circle were thinking seriously about leaving the country due to their fear of Harry Potter. Dumbledore however could not accept the things he was being told. He had not believed his five order members when they relayed Potters threat that as soon as he had finished with Voldemort he was coming after him the great Albus Dumbledore. It was, he told him self absolute nonsense. Harry Potter needed to be under his control, how could the boy hope to win if he did not have the great Albus Dumbledore guiding and advising him?

Nymphadora Tonks having had her jaw broken by a Muggle had been in the hospital for more than a week after the fiasco at the bank, she had seen the power Harry wielded when Hermione was threatened. It did not take her much time after first waking up in the hospital bed, to decide she was going to resign from the Order.

She never wanted to face Harry again, not only because she was scared of his power, but she was also disgusted with herself for obeying Dumbledore and trying to force Hermione to go with them to headquarters. She was a law officer and she had taken part in an attempted kidnap, no she would never be able to look either Harry or Hermione in the eye again, she knew she had lost two good friends in that bank and she truly regretted it.

Remus Lupin paced around his small living room, he had tried for days to justify to himself his actions at the bank. It was for their safety after all, wasn't it, he kept telling him self. Remus problem was simple; every time he tried to justify things he remembered Harry's words. Harry would be looking for revenge on those who had stolen his childhood from him by keeping him a prisoner at his abusive relatives' house. Remus knew that Harry had no fear of Dumbledore, and from his display in the bank Harry Potter was far more powerful than Dumbledore had ever been. Harry Potter would be taking revenge on the Order of the Phoenix for being imprisoned by them for sixteen years of hell in privet drive, it was a scary thought but to the last Marauder the shame he felt at what he had helped to do to the child he had promised his best friends he would look after was far worse.

Albus Dumbledore began the meeting of the order by being given the resignations of four members as soon as he declared the meeting open. It was a rather surprised old man who then had his potion master deciding to join in and resigning from both the order and the School.

Severus Snape stood at the large kitchen table in number twelve Grimmauld place and related the story of what had happened to Voldemort and about the fact that many of the death eaters were thinking of leaving everything and disappearing somewhere on the continent. He then refused to be involved in any further death eater meetings, and swore that there was no reason at all that he would ever change his mind. Arriving home after the order meeting Severus Snape picked up his pre-packed and shrunken trunks walked out of the house and activated a portkey that took him to a remote area of Finland, on landing he looked around and prayed Potters revenge could not reach him there.

Amelia Bones was rather enjoying the floo call she was sharing with Hermione Potter. Hermione had called to invite Amelia to spend a weekend at the keep with the Grangers and the Potters. During the preparations for the wedding Amelia had become a good friend of Helen and Richard, with the invite accepted they were just having a chat about various things. They were just talking about including Amelia's niece Susan in the weekend stay at the Keep when Amelia's warning wards went off, just a few seconds after the warning sound began Amelia was looking out of the window to see what was happening.

"Oh shit!" Amelia exclaimed as she pulled her wand out from some place up her sleeve. "Death eaters, looks to be about twenty of them," she called to Hermione as she ran to the front door of the house. Opening the door Amelia found the two Aurors who were her guards firing off spells at the death eaters as quick as they could. It took just seconds to take in all the information she needed before deciding what to do. A quick shout to the two Aurors ordering them into the house because they were vastly outnumbered out there on the lawn was quickly obeyed by the two men who were already sweating from their efforts.

Amelia spun around when she noticed the flash of green light from behind them; she gave a small gasp of relief when she saw both Harry and Hermione Potter enter the entry hall from the living room, she too had heard the rumours about the bank and about the power of Harry Potter.

"Hi Am, Hermione thought you might need a little help," Harry said a grim look on his face, he wasn't too happy with these death eaters at the moment as he had just had to leave a game of cards with Richard and he was sure he had had the winning hand this time. "So what's happening?"

"We have about twenty death eaters out front," Amelia was saying when she was interrupted by one of the Aurors "Oh bloody hell, it's him."

Harry leaned over and looked out of the window where the Auror was pointing. Voldemort stood there behind his death eaters urging them on in their casting of spells, he was yelling for them to put more power into them to break down the protections on the house.

As usual Harry did not stop to think what he was doing as he opened the front door a little and with a simple thought he sent out a wave of magic that bowled four of the death eaters in front of him over, sending them crashing into those behind them. One of the death eaters saw Harry in the doorway and yelled out "Potters here." After the death eaters yell, what happened was the exact opposite to anything that those inside the house might have expected.

All spells aimed at the house stopped and an eerie silence fell on the grounds of Bone house. That is until every one heard Voldemort say "Oh crap not Potter, oh shit!" and with a small crack he vanished. Seconds later the death eaters activated their own portkeys and were whisked away.

Tom Marvolo Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort arrived back in Malfoy Manor and went straight into his private chambers. He was sitting on his bed and could not control the shaking of his body. He was thinking about the immense amount of pain he suffered from in that attack of Potters on him two weeks before. It must have affected him far more than he thought because for the first time in his life he had felt fear, real gut wrenching mortal fear, for those few seconds between someone yelling Potters name and him apparating he had struggled not to soil himself. As he tried but failed to overcome the fear that welled up and filled his mind and body with dread. Now that he was back in relative safety he was disgusted with himself, he had allowed himself to fall to the level of his victims and feel fear. He told himself he would never let that happen again, but a small voice in his head whispered "_You're still shitting your self even now. You know Potter has the power to destroy you, don't you. You want to run and hide just like the muggles do."_

Around Malfoy Manor those death eaters who had accompanied Voldemort on the raid against Amelia Bones were telling others what had happened. How at the mere mention of Potters name Voldemort had panicked in fear and deserted them. Later that day Malfoy Manor was almost deserted, only the most cowardly and stupid of the death eaters could be found. Peter Pettigrew had the unfortunate luck of making his way to the nearest dock and stowing away on a departing ship using his animagus form. Thirteen miles out at sea the small skeleton crew disembarked climbing aboard a small fishing boat. Five minutes after the crew left the ship several explosions rocked the ship, huge holes in the hull saw the ex military ship rapidly sink beneath the waves, scuppered directly over a deep trench on the sea bed. None of the rats from the ship survived.

Back at Bone house five people looked out of the windows and wondered what had happened, slowly, hesitantly they left the house and began checking the grounds. Between them they found seven wounded death eaters, there was no sign of the others; they had simply vanished as quickly as they had arrived.

"Wonder what the heck happened, why would they run like that?" Harry asked as they sent the wounded death eaters to the DMLE headquarters with portkeys.

"Well Harry, I don't know what the heck you did, or how you did it but I suggest you keep doing it. Voldemort almost crapped himself when you popped your head out of the door," Amelia answered quietly.

The two Aurors looked at Harry in awe for a few moments before they took a portkey to their office so they could write up their reports on the events of the last few minutes. As they left for the ministry both of them knew that the legend of the boy who lived was about to be given yet another story to add to the already amazing tales of Harry Potter. They also knew there were going to be some highly surprised people in their office when their reports were read. _'I would love to be in Fudge's office when he hears about this'_ thought one of them as they felt the pull of the portkey.

Three days later at the monthly meeting of the Wizengamot there were less than a quarter of the normal number of members who had turned up. The rumour was that those who had supported the pureblood philosophy and had forced the passing of anti Muggle born laws would be Potters next targets and they were leaving the country in droves, all of them hoping they could get far enough away from Potter to be safe. Rumour also had it that people were no longer heard spouting the pureblood doctrine, it had suddenly become a taboo subject.

Albus Dumbledore looked around the table at the order members gathered for their weekend meeting to see a surprising number of extremely worried faces. They had all heard the reports about Voldemort being terrified of Harry Potter and of his deserting his death eaters when Harry showed up during their attack on the Bones home. He could not believe that his fighters could actually believe such rubbish about the boy.

"Ok, listen up every one, I am surprised at you I really am, these rumours about young Mr Potter are just that, simple rumours. I mean we all know that I am the only wizard that Voldemort fears, and yet he does not run from me now does he. Well not until he has made yet another attempt to beat me, so why would he run from a boy like Harry, eh?" Dumbledore said in an exasperated voice.

"Albus, I have come to the conclusion that you have either become senile or you are delusional, there are confirmed reports of what happened with Voldemort. Purebloods are leaving like rats deserting a sinking ship. Most of the Wizengamot that supported pureblood laws have fled the country. Just which part of that are you missing?" Alastor Moody said as he turned to leave. "I'm off to join Potter." He announced as he stepped to the door.

"The death eaters are almost now none existent and Potter will soon be getting rid of the dark lord. it won't be long before he comes looking for the idiots who thought it a good idea to take away all the freedom of the one they expected to beat the most powerful dark lord in the last millennium. What sort of idiots are we, we knew how powerful Harry would have to become in order to beat Voldemort and we listened to your stupidity and placed the boy in an abusive household and made him a prisoner there. If he won't accept me, then I for one am going to be joining those who are leaving for safer climes," Alastor Moody declared rather loudly before stomping out of the house.

Tom Riddle, the most feared dark lord of the millennium cursed as he burned yet another egg, "I should have learned to cook, that's for certain," he told himself as he looked down at the four previous attempts he had made at making his breakfast "I should not be reduced to having to cook for myself, where the hell is everyone? Where is that useless Wormtail?" he had spent an hour that morning ringing his bell for his breakfast with no one answering. On leaving his chambers he had spent another hour wandering around the Manor trying to find someone he could torture before getting them to cook him his breakfast and he had not found a single soul in the entire house. Tom Riddle found himself the great dark Lord of an empty Manor and he was not happy. He was too afraid of Potter finding him to leave the house to go looking for those minions who were not answering his call to attend him, and he had no idea what to do. He could not even understand why he was now so extremely deathly afraid of Harry Potter, even though he now knew his safety net that anchored him to this world and protected him from death was now gone, destroyed by the boy, he completely failed to connect the clues that his subconscious had seen."

Harry and Hermione along with the Grangers had been settling in to their life in the Keep. For the past week they had been making plans for a holiday, their choices were now between America or somewhere in north Africa, Harry fancied going to Egypt to visit Bill Weasley and see what life as a curse breaker was like. He also had a small ambition to become some sort of archaeologist like the Jones guy from the movie he had once seen part of. Hermione was quite happy to go where ever her husband decided.

Closer to their planned holiday Hermione, Helen, and Luna Lovegood, had taken a day out and had done some serious holiday shopping in London. On their return from muggle London, a lone Albus Dumbledore had tried to capture Hermione while they were in the Leaky Cauldron. That is until an ignored Muggle mother by the name of Helen showed the old man blocking their way with a very well aimed and powerful kick, that she could protect her daughter almost as well as her husband could. The three women left the old headmaster on his hands and knees trying hard to get some air to enter his lungs, and praying to all the gods he knew of that he would still be able to pee after the excruciating pain eased off.

That night Harry Potter was not a happy person as he told the four founders what the crazy old headmaster had tried to do. With the help of the four founders and the castle itself Harry went back to his own time with a pleasant smile and a little extra bounce in his step. Albus Dumbledore's interference in other people's lives was soon going to come to a sudden end. Harry felt sure that his wife and her parents, who were rapidly becoming his new mum and dad, would be happy to agree to his and the founders plan for the old manipulator. All they needed to do was to wait until the end of year feast before setting the plan in motion. According to the founders it would take no more than five minutes to begin exacting revenge on Dumbledore. Revenge that would last until Dumbledore took his last breath on this plane of existence.

Harry was correct in his assessment of his in laws, though he had not quite expected just how much Hermione looked forward to removing Dumbledore from the world so he could cause them no more problems. As the day of the leaving feast got closer Hermione refined their plan and diligently practised the magic they would use against the old man. She also devised a back up plan in case their first one did not work, even though she felt certain they would not need plan b.

Albus Dumbledore was feeling quite pleased, the end of year leaving feast was at an end. Soon he would be able to put all his attention into finding Harry Potter and getting the boy away from the Granger girl and back within his controlling influence. He was still convinced the rumours about Potter's power was false, and put the lack of death eater activity down to his own painstaking efforts to curtail their evil ways and to turn them back to the light side once again. The fact that the majority of the Wizengamot, of which he was the leader, had not shown up for any meetings in the past few days seemed to have escaped his attention. He let out a satisfied sigh as the last of the students left the great hall, he could go and get some well earned rest now before he would begin his search for Potter in the morning.

...


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer, Sad to say I do not own any of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to J. K. Rowling.

The New Sixth Year.

Chapter five

Harry stood on the unused third floor landing of Hogwarts castle and watched the students as they left the great hall. He wore a huge smile as he looked at his wife who stood a little distance away talking to one of the portraits. Looking down on the entrance hall and seeing his prey walk from the great hall toward the stairs, Harry called to Hermione. "Its show time my love."

Hermione gave Harry a quick nod of her head before she waved her hand and conjured a false wall in front of her, it was so well done that Harry was no longer sure where she had been standing. He relaxed a little when he saw her head and shoulders appear out of the stonework and she winked at him.

Harry looked down over the edge of the banister at the top of the third floor landing and watched silently until Dumbledore had reached half way up the second flight of stairs. With a wide grin on his face Harry watched the old man as he paused for two young students who rushed past him. As soon as the stairs were clear of students Harry chuckled, it was time, Dumbledore had just reached the top of the second flight. Leaning over a little precariously Harry called down to the old man.

"Hello there Numb balls, how are you, I see you have recovered from my mother in laws small gift. Pity that, I was hoping to witness a little limping or some thing."

A surprised Dumbledore looked up to see where the voice was coming from, as soon as he saw Harry his countenance changed taking on the persona of a friendly grandfatherly type. "Harry my boy where have you been? I really must talk to you."

"You think I'm stupid or something?" Harry called down before he turned and walked off down the corridor.

'_I do indeed boy, it seems you have forgotten that that corridor is a dead end_' Albus thought as he rushed up the stairs to the third floor.

Harry watched as the old man started to rush up the stairs, he then walked a short way along the corridor and taking a quick look behind him self checking it was still clear he pulled open a door to a rather special room. Then with a simple thought and a finger twiddle he created a rough image of himself as seen from behind. The image floated to stand in front of an open door on the opposite side of the room.

Harry nodded pleased with his work, leaving the door to the room open he stepped to the side and vanished behind Hermione's false wall. Hermione looked at him and with a flick of her little finger of her right hand she created a silencing charm around them both. The two of them stood and watched through the wall that from their side was like a huge one way mirror, as Dumbledore rushed down the corridor straight to the door Harry had left open. They both chuckled as the old man walked into the room in pursuit of the false Harry.

Harry stepped from behind the wall while Hermione dispelled the charm that had created it. Reaching into the room Harry grabbed the door handle and pulled it toward him. "Goodbye headmaster," he said to the old man as he pulled the door closed. Two seconds after closing, the door in front of him vanished and was replaced by the solid stone wall of the castle.

Albus Dumbledore spun around as he heard Harry say goodbye, he looked on in shock when Harry simply shut the door, there was no sound of a locking charm or of there being a key used, Dumbledore smiled to him self saying, "And they tell me Tom is scared of a stupid boy who didn't even bother to lock the door." It took the bearded old man just a few seconds to reach the door and open it and look out into an empty corridor.

Harry and Hermione took a very casual walk around the school; they called in to the kitchens for a snack before making their way up to Gryffindor tower and the common room where they were warmly welcomed by their former house mates who were preparing to leave for their break the following morning. All but one that is, Ron Weasley watched as Harry and Hermione walked in through the portrait hole, as they were being welcomed by his fellow Gryffindor's Ron's ears slowly turned red.

Standing up abruptly Ron tipped Lavender Brown from his lap onto the floor, every one in the common room turned at the sound of Lavenders squeal as she found herself falling butt first to the floor in a rather undignified heap. Her yell of "WHAT The Hell Weasley?" Went completely ignored as everyone in the room was focused on the most idle and stupid Gryffindor of the past century.

"Potter! What the hell do you think you are doing with my girlfriend? You back stabbing git!" Ron yelled even though they were standing not more than a few feet away from him.

Just about every set of eyes in the room looked from Ron to Lavender and then back at Ron, Lavender was now sitting open mouthed on the floor in front of Ron Weasley, she quickly decided that this time he was now definitely and permanently and for the very last time her boyfriend.

"Er, listen up Weasley… I mean, I know you have always been a little thick, and actually beating a small chunk of wood in your exams would strain your little brain to its maximum, but my husband Harry is nowhere near your girlfriend, who for some odd reason is sitting on the floor in front of you. Now be a good little idiot and sit back down," Hermione said with a straight face, though Harry knew she was dying to laugh at their former friend, as he could see the mirth in her eyes.

"The wife's right you know Ron, I'm nowhere near Lavender," Harry said wanting his little dig at the red head that had spent five years making Hermione cry as often as he could.

"I'm talking about Hermione, Potter. She belongs to me, she was always meant to be mine, so get your filthy hands away from my woman," Ron yelled.

Gryffindor's were supposed to be brave but all those in the common room knew the difference between being brave and being just plain stupid, and seeing Hermione's face they all stepped back as far as they could, there was no need for more than one idiot in the room.

Neither Harry nor Hermione moved, all those watching would swear to it, still Ron Weasley floated up into the air and then just as though someone had pushed him over he fell forward until he was lying flat on his face over five and a half feet in the air. He then began to move forward until he was directly in front of and slightly above Hermione. The tremendous slap that she gave him hit him flush on his right cheek and sent him into a spin. While Hermione growled "Weasley I detest every thing about you."

Still spinning like a parachutist in free fall Ron rose up until he was just below the ceiling. He groaned in pain as his face, hands, and a particularly delicate part of his anatomy erupted in painful boils. Across his forehead the red and blistered words 'I am stupid' appeared. He carried on spinning as Harry informed their former house mates that he and Hermione were now married and Hermione was expecting twins. At the mention of twins everyone seemed to automatically look up at the still spinning red head with a pain filled and rather dumfounded look on his face.

Having been congratulated by every one including Lavender, who kept asking Hermione what spell she had used on the red headed prat, so she could practice it for when the prat tried another feeble apology and asked her for another date. They made their way to the portrait hole and waved their goodbye.

As they were leaving Hermione whispered rather loudly to two young second years, "I don't think I would stay there if I was you, or there is likely to be a dumb Weasel dropping in on you shortly."

Two second year girls looked up and saw that Ron was still spinning and was directly above them. Saying thanks to Hermione the girls collected their belongings and moved to another spot in the room.

Leaving the Gryffindor common room the two Potters made their way to the secret door and a meeting with the founders and then his parents to inform them all how their plans for Dumbledore had worked like a dream.

Albus Dumbledore the man of many names and just as many titles had been wandering around the castle in search of Harry Potter for quite some time before he began to realise there was something wrong, he could not remember seeing any windows for quite some time, he also began to notice that none of the paintings were moving or talking. When he stood still held his breath and listened there was absolute silence except for his own heart beat.

A week later the old man sat alone on the only chair in the great hall, he had finally worked out that he was trapped in some strange mirror version of Hogwarts, when Potter had shut that door he didn't need to lock it because by entering that room, he the great Albus Dumbledore had walked into a trap. There was no one else in the castle; and there was no way out of the castle that he could find. He had been unable to find any books or anything else that might do to help him overcome the boredom. Even the headmasters' office was devoid of any of the things that might have been found in an office. Food was always available when he needed to eat as was water to drink, but that was all, and worst thing of all, he was unable to conjure anything at all, magic simply did not work in this version of Hogwarts.

It was two weeks before he admitted to him self while resting on the only bed in the entire castle, that Harry Potter had beaten him by using the brilliant Albus Dumbledore's usual stupidity of thinking he was the greatest and cleverest wizard alive and believing it. He knew that he had given himself that title and had never actually done anything to prove his claim. As he fell asleep once again in his silent lonely prison he wondered if he would be a prisoner here in this nightmare for sixteen years, because thanks to him Harry Potter had been a prisoner in a nightmare existence for sixteen long years. His last thought before sleep took him was _'I'll never last that long alone with nothing to do_.' Albus Dumbledore suffered many nightmares while he slept, nightmares of being a small abused boy who was kept locked in a small cupboard, starved until it was time for work or punishment. He tried many times to escape but he would never find a way to be free of this mirror version of Hogwarts or of his nightmares.

Voldemort tried to smile, the unreasonable and yet overwhelming fear, and absolute sheer terror that even the mention of Potter's name instilled in him and made him nauseous was now gone. He had had to leave behind his plans to rule the world and it had taken nearly three months of travelling incognito, but he now finally had his own domain to rule over and he had his own minions again. Granted it might only be a small island but he no longer had to do his own cooking, he was brought as much food as he could eat four times a day, he had in fact begun to put on a little weight, something he had not done since he was a teenager.

With his thin snake like lips curled into some semblance of a smile he looked out over his domain. It might not be large, but for a small island in the Bermuda triangle it was not really too bad. He would of course be a little happier when he could speak the language of his minions, but for now their worshiping him as a god would suffice. He reminded him self that as soon as he had learnt the language he should ask them why they insisted that he sat in a swinging chair during the evening meals, and what were the markings for on the tree next to the chair. And why on earth the oddly dressed old man checked how high his chair was from the ground every evening.

When he first arrived on the island, Voldemort in his haste to settle somewhere so he could once again start to build his empire (only on a much smaller scale) had missed the warning signs posted on the reef just off the island. The signs that warned that some of the local islands were home to cannibals. Sailors were warned not to go ashore unless it was absolutely vital. Of course there is the point that Tom Marvolo Riddle never was one for taking much notice of warning signs otherwise he may have taken notice of the glaring warning sign that being beaten by the same young boy five times had to mean he was definitely missing something important about the boy. Perhaps if he had taken notice he would not have found himself where he was, maybe one day, perhaps when the legs of the chair he sits on at dinner touch the floor he will learn his lesson, warnings are well worth taking notice of no matter where they come from, as his next visit to the insides of a cauldron would most definitely not be for his resurrection.

If anyone could have watched the great Albus Dumbledore at that time, they would have witnessed him as he gave either his welcome feast or his end of year speech to the very deserted great hall. His mind was broken by the loneliness and the constant nightmares that were so realistic he always felt the pain of Harry Potter during each and every one of them.

It was two days before Harry's birthday; he along with Hermione and the two Grangers sat in the office of Ragnok, head of the wizarding banking system and leader of the Goblin nation. Ragnok was just coming to the end of a rather long and boring monolog "…And so Mr Potter with so many resigning or simply up and leaving the government is beginning to fall apart."

"Er… Thank you for that rather detailed description of the wizarding world of Britain, but what has it to do with me and what do you expect me to do about it?" Harry queried while wondering why the hell all the pureblood elitists were so frightened of him they were dropping everything and leaving the country, he couldn't even remember seeing a death eater since the day at Bones house.

"Mr Potter we Goblins and other financial institutions are not yet being affected by what is happening outside our doors, mainly because the majority of those leaving are simply removing themselves physically they are for now retaining our services. We do how ever fear that it will not be long before they begin to remove their wealth to other countries. We suspect that the majority of them do not wish to disrupt the education of their offspring and that is why they have left their financial affairs as they were. We hope that as the main cause of this problem you will be able to either reverse the trend or take action to rebuild the government thus allowing laws similar to the Muggle laws preventing the removal of large amounts of gold from the economy be made."

Richard Granger gave a little cough "So Mr Ragnok am I right in assuming you are asking Harry to take over the government?"

"In a nut shell, yes, that is what we as a nation and the main financial institutions of the British wizarding world would like to happen. Whether Mr Potter likes it or not with Dumbledore missing he is the one that the decent wizarding folk of this land look upon as their leader," Ragnok answered firmly.

"Oh whoopee, Harry Potter for president," Harry said sarcastically.

There were looks of shock on the faces of Harry, Hermione and Richard as Helen spoke up, "We will see what we can do about it Mr Ragnok, thank you for your help. Come on you three we have a lot to do."

On leaving Ragnok's office all that Helen would tell them was that they needed to visit Amelia as she would be needed to help them. Fifteen minutes later they were all sitting comfortably in Amelia's office listening as she verified that the Muggle prime minister was well aware of the magical world and should be kept up to date by the Minister of magic. The fact that Fudge had obviously done a runner pointed to the prime minister having no idea about the imminent collapse of the ministry of magic.

Helen pointed out to them what seemed obvious to her, the magical world must contribute quite a large sum of income to the Muggles "Where else can all the food and other goods come from? There are plenty of magical shops, but I haven't heard a single whisper about the magicals having any factories or industries that produce all the goods, food, clothes, parchment those sort of things you all use, so I think there has to be some sort of connection between the two, maybe a treaty or something. We might be able to get help from the Muggle government."

Surprising them all Amelia nodded then made a floo call to the prime minister and after informing him what was happening in a very short version they arranged a meeting for later that afternoon. With the floo call ended she invited them all to lunch in a quiet little café that she frequented.

At two pm they all took the floo from Amelia's office to number ten Downing Street. They were only in the prime ministers office long enough to straighten their clothes before they were taken to a garage and climbed into a limousine. It took just a few minutes before they found themselves standing in a reception room in Buckingham Palace.

Harry nervously tried to find out from members of the staff what was happening but discovered he was not alone in not knowing things. Even the prime minister was not aware of the reason they had been called before the Queen. They had only been in the room a matter of minutes when the Queen entered and having looked at her visitors she began by greeting her minister.

The Prime minister having bowed turned slightly and introduced Harry, and Hermione followed by Amelia and Mr and Mrs Granger.

With the formalities over the Queen took a seat and invited them all to sit. Looking at Harry the Queen smiled before speaking "Mr Potter, we have read our reports about your recent adventures and we are pleased with what you have done. It has been our plan to meet with you at a later time in your life, but it seems we have some new problems in our magical community which will require the Queens wizard to relay our orders to the Wizengamot. Normally the Queens wizard would be at least twenty five years old before being appointed. We will however be required to bring forward that appointment to commence on your seventeenth birthday."

Harry looked at the queen with a look of horrified shock and disbelief "M… me?" was all he could manage to say.

"Tell me why such shock Mr Potter? A Potter has been the royal wizard since the year 1128. Your father was next in line when the previous royal wizard, your grandfather died. The title and duties of the Queens wizard now pass to you. You would have been called to your duties the day you reach twenty-five but the wizarding world has need of your services right now. We are not pleased with our ministry of magic they have failed their Queen and we wish you to…"

The Potters and Grangers were all deep in thought as they rode in the prime ministers limo back to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry was wearing the chain of office that came with being the Queens wizard; while Hermione and Amelia were wondering how a young man seventeen years old was going to carry out the orders the Queen had given him.

After a rather tiring birthday breakfast in bed with Hermione, Harry listened carefully as she told him of her plan, right after breakfast the Potter couple made their way to the ministry and Amelia's office. Harry with the staff of office he had been given. All of the family accompanied him. In his Queens wizard guise he gave orders for Amelia to provide him with an auror escort which she was to lead, to take them into the Wizengamot meeting.

Hermione and her parents took a seat in the gallery that was normally reserved for the public, while Harry with his staff in hand walked into the centre of the room. Standing there with all eyes on him he took a deep breath and then slowly he looked around at the gathering. "I stand in front of you as the Queens wizard, and I bring you our Queens orders. My first task is to appoint a new minister. Amelia Bones of the ancient and noble house of Bones step forward and accept the appointment of minister."

A rather shocked Amelia stepped forward and accepted the appointment with surprise written all over her face, she had not expected Harry to even consider her for the position. Taking her seat in the minister's chair she received a small unenthusiastic round of applause from the members around the chamber.

"With the appointment of your new minister the Queen commands the removal of all pureblood laws that prevent the appointment of half-blood and Muggle born's to the Wizengamot." Harry slammed the end of his staff onto the floor. With a huge crack like lightening Harry declared the pureblood laws illegal while watching as a bolt of magic swept around the chamber. "Minister I commission you and the Wizengamot rebuild the Queens government of magical Britain, I give you one month. If you fail to fulfil this commission I will return and remove the Wizengamot's authority and return all rule to our Queen. I suggest you use the skills and intelligence of those you chose to treat as second class citizens with your bigotry. Beg their help if you have too because believe me you will most definitely not like it if I have to return here again." Harry then once again gave them a show of his magic before he turned and walked out of the chamber. He could still hear the uproar in the wizengamot chamber as he was joined by Hermione and the Grangers, together they left the building.

Harry's small display and his threat of returning was all it took to turn around the way the wizarding government of Britain worked. Within the year the wizengamot was made up of seventy five percent half bloods and Muggle born's, all of whom had been voted into their jobs by the people. Most of the workers in the ministry were people who until Harry's visit were deemed unworthy.

Harry and Hermione settled down to enjoy raising their family, still once a month for the next one hundred years Harry visited the ministry as the queens wizard and held an open office where he would hear any problems anyone brought to him.

One hundred and twenty five years after his appointment by the queen the British magical world was a complete democracy. Most pureblood families had died out and there seemed to no longer be the threat of a dark lord every few decades. Harry and Hermione celebrated their last anniversary that year, surrounded by their large family all of whom were proud to be descended from Harry and Hermione Potter. They had led fairly happy lives together and had accomplished what they started out to do, before they both passed on together in their sleep.

...


End file.
